free will + determinism

• Free will example is Humanism
• your behaviour is determined
• there are many examples of determinism in psychology = explanations or approaches which are based on the concept that human behaviour is caused by factors not under an individual's personal control
• biological determinism: research into the human genome is producing increasing evidence of genetic influences on behaviour, the more we discover the more it appears that our behaviours (not just our physical characteristics) are determined by our genes
• biological determinism: e.g. research on intelligence has identified particular genes found in people w/ high intelligence such as the IGF2R gene (Hill et al, 1999)
• biological determinism: genes in turn influence brain structure and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine that are often implicated in behaviour
• environmental determinism: behaviourists believe that all behaviour is caused by previous experiences through the processes of classical and operant conditioning (which may be direct or indirect)
• environmental determinism: e.g. in year 1 studies you learn how phobias may develop as a consequence of conditioning = a new stimulus response relationship can be learned if the item 'dog' is paired w/ being bitten
• environmental determinism: such a phobic response is also unlearned through conditioning (e.g. systematic desensitisation), the principles of learning theory have been applied to many areas of behaviour such as aggression and eating behaviour
• psychic determinism: Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality suggests that adult behaviour is determined by a mix of innate drives and early experience i.e. both internal and external forces, behaviour is driven by the libido which focuses sequentially on erogenous zones such as the mouth or anus
• psychic determinism: if a child is frustrated or overindulged (external forces) at any stage during development then the libido remains tied to the relevant erogenous zone and the individual is thus fixated on that zone
• psychic determinism: the method of obtaining satisfaction that characterised the stage will dominate their adult personality
• scientific determinism: scientific research is based on the belief that all events have a cause, an IV is manipulated to observe the causal effect on the DV
• scientific determinism: e.g. in year 1 studies you learned about Harlow's (1959) research on attachment involving an IV (wire mother w/ milk or cloth covered) and a DV (attachment formed), the result demonstrated that contact comfort, not food, determined the formation of an attachment
• at a subjective level we each have a sense of free will
• humanistic approach: humanistic psychologists such as Abraham Maslow + Carl Rogers argued that self-determination was a necessary part of human behaviour
• humanistic approach: without it = healthy self-development and self-actualisation are not possible e.g. Rogers (1959) claimed that as long as an individual remains controlled by other people or other things they cannot take responsibility for their behaviour and therefore can't begin to change it
• humanistic approach: things which are outside a person's sense of self remain beyond personal control e.g. a person who says 'I lied but that isn't like me' does not admit that they are a liar and therefore will not seek to change the behaviour
• humanistic approach: only when an individual takes self-responsibility (i.e. self-determination) is personal growth possible resulting in psychological health
• moral responsibility: the basis of moral responsibility is that an individual is in charge of their own actions i.e. can exercise free will
• moral responsibility: the law states that children and those who are mentally ill do not have this responsibility but otherwise there is the assumption in our society that 'normal' adult behaviour is self-determined
• moral responsibility: in other words that humans are accountable for their actions regardless of innate factors or the influences of early experience
• L: free will means that behaviour can't be predicted or objectively measured
• S: free will emphasises the individual as responsiblity for behaviour
• L: determinism leaves us w/ no responsibility for our own actions
• S: the deterministic approach tries to predict behaviour under scientific conditions